The SOMM Journal

June / July 2017

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Spring oxalis blooms in the Lester Vineyard in Corralitos, Pleasant Valley.
Big Basin 2014
Roussanne,
Homestead
Block, Santa Cruz
Mountains (SRP $48)
While it is challeng
-
ing to grow this
Rhône grape in the
appellation's cool
climate, there is
enough exposure
near the top of the
estate vineyard to
produce a tightly
coiled, acid-driven
rendition of the
variety, still oozing
with sensations of
raw honey, apricot,
fresh citrus and flowery fruit—its
purity preserved by racking out of
barrel at 11 months into stainless
steel, where the wine spent another
four months before bottling. It's a
refreshing departure from the fat,
blowsy style typifying most California
Roussannes.
Big Basin 2013
Rattlesnake Rock
Syrah, Santa Cruz
Mountains (SRP $55)
There are Syrahs that
knock your socks
off and Syrahs that
whisper in a more
feminine Northern
Rhône–like fashion.
Brown has dialed
in the latter, classic,
floral style—super
violet perfume with
foresty nuances—
that is lean, tight,
zesty and vibrant.
He uses a two
percent Viognier co-
ferment, and the wine is aged strictly
in 300-liter steam-bent hogsheads to
minimize wood tannin and toastiness,
hence a sense of sweetness defined
by pure mountain-grown fruit rather
than caramelized oak or watered-
back ripeness.
Mountains (SRP $48)
Mountains (SRP $55)
Clay amphora, concrete square
and steel barrel fermenters at
Big Basin Vineyards.
Valley area, further south in the appella-
tion). With better farming, we can do more
whole-cluster fermentation—about 50
percent for the Grenache, and two/thirds
to 100 percent for Pinot Noir—because
we get good [stem] lignification, even when
picking earlier, at lower sugars."
A sampling of this "evolved" approach, epitomizing contemporary
Santa Cruz Mountains winegrowing: